Warner Bros. Testing the Waters for ‘Contagion 2’

I consider last September’s Contagion to be one of the scariest movies I have ever seen. Telling the story about a virus outbreak across the world, it showcased just how fragile we are as a species and how neglecting even the simplest task (i.e. washing your hands) could lead to extinction. Hell, just thinking about it makes me feel uneasy.

And apparently Warner Bros. is looking to scare us all over again; The Wrap reports that the studio has put out an “open writing assignment” for a sequel to Contagion. Essentially what that means is they don’t really have a story or much of an idea, and are looking to screenwriters to find a way to make it work. Scott Z. Burns, who wrote the first Contagion, will be producing Contagion 2 The Grave (a working title that I just made up) and it’s unclear whether director Steven Soderbergh will return behind the camera. But considering his retirement plans, we doubt it.

Contagion is a good movie by itself; it hit all the beats that it needed to and then the conclusion was rather satisfying. There are only so many ways to do 2 Contagion 2 Furious: the virus either comes back stronger, a new and more terrible virus comes out of nowhere, or a smaller scale outbreak. And out of either of those, I feel like it would be the exact same movie as the first one and therefore not justifying its existence. Not every damn movie needs a sequel, you know?

Should Contagion 2: Armed and Fabulous exist? Where do you think they could take the story?